Happy Pioneer Day...y'all !

Grandma Beena meeting Holly for the first time...April 1994, Logan, Utah
Christmas in Logan, Utah 1945 Grandpa Wendell, Grandma Beena, Uncle Pete, Les (my Dad) seated, Aunt Bev, Uncle Bob (seated), Uncle Bill, Great-Grandma Ash (seated), Uncle John.


July 24th is a Utah State holiday...not that I usually pay attention to State Holidays...But Saturday is Pioneer Day in Utah. A day to honour the sacrifices the early Saints made to escape religious persecution. I come from pioneer stock on both sides. But when I think of pioneers I think of my Great Grandmother Ellen Matilda Ash. Ellen at the age of 2,with her infant sister and parents, crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Enoch Train (passenger ship), took a steam train from Boston to Iowa City, from there they came to the Salt Lake Valley in the first Handcart Company (Edmond Ellsworth Company 1856)...They endured thunderstorms, cold,hunger and broken down carts...But arrived in Salt Lake September 16, 1856...


I never knew my Great Grandma Ash (she lived to be 99) but I knew her daughter...My Grandma Beena. Grandma Beena was spunky, quick-witted, drove a '63 Buick Wildcat 'til she was 95(quit when the walk to the car became to difficult),walked faster, with a cane, than I could without, dressed impeccably,saw three centuries, loved the colour red, never forgot a birthday or anniversary, and gave me the best advice I have ever received. "Raise your kids so other people can stand them!"

She could sure tell a story and usually had you in stitches by the end...hanging her wash inside on Sunday, hiding the coffee pot from the home teachers, sneaking Jack Daniel in to her nursing home, hoping she didn't die in the bathroom like her neighbour, hitching the horses to their first car because the crank start wouldn't work.

Even though she was well acquainted with heartache and trials...she would often say "the cure to any worry is work..."


Grandma Beena was the only 103 year old that you could say died unexpectedly...she was with it to the end.I think because I knew Beena I know some of what my great grandmother was like. I am honoured to have a pioneer legacy...I enjoy much because of the sacrifices they made. So I say, whether I am in Utah or not,...Happy Pioneer Day.